Mouse Android review

Developer Magma is somewhat of a firm fixture in the Android Market’s Top Free Games section. I’ve had mixed success in our previous encounters; Connect’Em Halloween and Bubble Blast 2 were both excellent, however Pinball was pretty broked.

Mouse is another puzzler in the vein of the goodness, so I’ve got fairly high hopes. Also, it rates appallingly high, with an average 4.5 rating after 441,000+ user votes. Ready? Let’s do this thing.

Like the rest of Magma’s offerings, Mouse is entirely free, which means it has little ads along the bottom. Meh. Who cares? Moving on…

In Mouse, the aim is to help the eponymous mouse escape from a series of labs. Each lab consists of a number of blocks, which can be moved around with a swipe of the touchscreen. Simple.

Well, in theory.

The tutorial is easy enough, but you’ll very quickly find yourself staring at the screen in utter bewilderment at some of the puzzles. There’s the obligatory criteria for three stars (here it’s time and number of moves), which only adds to the frustration. Hypothetically it’s possible to complete each level in just a few seconds, but you’ll rarely – if ever – meet that target first time around.

If you get completely stuck, you can request the solution (one per hour). I’ve yet to resort to it, and there doesn’t appear to be an upper limit on the number of moves (or time), so I’d tend to persevere. But hey, it’s there if you need it.

Magma has a tendency to include a ludicrous number of levels in its games, and Mouse doesn’t disappoint. How does 2,100 puzzles across 26 worlds sound? Not bad, considering it’s entirely free.

And that’s Mouse. It’s tough but fun, it’s free, and there’s enough meat to keep you busy for a long, long time. The end.

Pros

Lots of levels

Incredibly challenging – a real thinker

Cons

Gets real hard real quick

Seriously, it’s really hard

Summary: Shift blocks around to clear a path for the little mouse. Good.